Monsignor Nunzio Galantino,
secretary-general of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), said
Wednesday the government of Premier Matteo Renzi has been
"completely absent of immigration".
Galantino told Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana that it
was "not enough to rescue migrants at sea".
"We do what the Gospel requires of us," he added in
reference to the stand the Catholic Church has taken on the
issue of migration.
Last week, Pope Francis said that refusal to accept
migrants was an act of war and violence.
Soon after, Galantino warned that: "Unfortunately
(anti-immigrant feeling) is being fueled by a handful of cheap
peddlers willing to say extraordinarily inane things just to get
a vote".
The pope's comments, as well as Galantino's, have triggered
angry responses from some politicians, particularly the
anti-immigration Northern League led by Matteo Salvini.
The League has said Italy is already taking in too many of
the thousands of migrants fleeing war and violence in Africa and
the Middle East, often in dangerous voyages over the
Mediterranean Sea to land in Italy.
In an interview with Famiglia Cristiana, Galantino said
that the government must do more to accept immigrants and raise
awareness of their plight among the public.
"Instead, we have always written laws that basically reject
immigrants and do not provide for positive integration," said
Galantino.
"Practices to apply for asylum are long, an ordeal...we
park immigrants here and there in Italy," he added, refering to
migrant centres where people are often left idle as they wait
for their paperwork to be processed.
Instead, there could be a streamlined process for residency
permits that would allow more migrants to find meaningful work,
said Galantino.
That would give migrants a more positive image among
Italians struggling to overcome their own economic crisis of
recent years, he said.
"People would see them no longer loitering around and would
not say they are eating at the expense of Italians (who are)
already in crisis".
Galantino said his organization has been attacked by some
politicians because over its stance on welcoming migrants, with
accusations thrown that the bishops have some financial interest
in immigration.
That reduces the issue to "a frightening banality," he
said.
Worse, comments by League politicians such as Salvini and
Governor Luca Zaia of Veneto, amount to a sort of "tavern talk,
boasting" that could be turned into violence against newcomers,
warned Galantino.
On Monday, Salvini complained that "someone is talking too
much in the name of the (Catholic) Church".
"My argument is not with the Church but with someone who is
talking too much in its name," Salvini said in reaction to
earlier comments by Galantino.
"Someone is doing politics in the name of the Church," he
said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
